Ruidoso Down Race Track disputes NYT horse racing story

From the Ruidoso News - by Mike Curran and Jim Kalvelage - The horse racing industry is in the spotlight, with a focus that includes New Mexico and Ruidoso Downs, following a lengthy page one article in the Sunday edition of The New York Times. The report pointed a finger at the racing industry in New Mexico and stated that the Ruidoso Downs Race Track had the highest rate of incidents involving horses in 2011, at 14.1 incidents per 1,000 starts. Tuesday, in a prepared statement, Ruidoso Downs Race Track refutes The New York Times article's claim that Ruidoso Downs had the nation's highest rate of incidents where horses broke down or showed signs of injury. Ruidoso Downs Race Track President Bruce Rimbo said he disagreed with the way the Times analyzed the data. "While Ruidoso Downs Race Track finds any injury a horse suffers unacceptable, the facts show that nearly 16,000 horses started over the three-year period The New York Times studied and just three one-hundredths of one percent of those horses encountered fatal injuries," Rimbo said. "In a perfect world, there would be no injuries but in the world of sport that is just not a reality." The statement from the track noted Terry Chiplin, an official with a high-altitude training center in Colorado, found higher elevation competition can create problems for the unprepared, such as fatigue, dehydration, headaches and difficulty in breathing. The statement added that altitude can make a big difference and comparing a track at 7,000 feet to lower elevation race tracks is like comparing apples to oranges.  "In cases where horses need additional assistance, Ruidoso (Downs) personnel are there to help immediately," Rimbo said. "This may result in a chart caller's (person who makes a record of how horses performed in a race) comment appearing negative yet often times those same horses will come back in their next start just a few weeks later after acclimating to the altitude and perform at a very high level," Rimbo said.
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